Summertime

Today is the first day of summer and I'm off to sell pottery at the Powessit Farm Stand this afternoon. I love spending an extended time at the farm because I get to interact with people who share my passion for good local food and great pottery...it's going to be a blast!

I'll be selling lots of functional pottery, perfect for eating and serving food from.  All my pottery is dishwasher and microwave safe.  Food just tastes better in a handmade piece of pottery. 

I love this new color combination that uses this summertime blue.  It works really well with the Temoko brown and matte white too.  Different combinations produce different colors and expand my palette.

Here is a recipe to start your summer off:

Sauteed Radishes (truth be known...I never liked radishes until I cooked them....)  

separate red radishes from their stems

wash and slice 

heat a skillet, add a combination of olive oil and butter

add radishes to the pan and saute until soft

If you like to use the entire radish, add a bit more oil and add the greens in.

sprinkle a little kosher salt over your veggies

...serve in your favorite handmade bowl and enjoy the relationship between the food and pottery...

And, MY blog was included in the best 50 ceramic blogs!  
Click here to see more:

Guide To Art Schools.com

50 Best Ceramics Blogs

Lynn Isaacson of New Prospect Pottery

Hudson Valley Potter, Lynn Isaacson has been working in clay seriously for the last 15 years.  She is also a teacher, painter and now she enjoys making “functional” pottery.  

She describes her food and pottery relationship in this way: 

"The spirit of creating objects that are not only beautiful to see and hold, but have a purpose in our daily lives, gives me tremendous pleasure.  I love to share the pots I make, and collect, using them with friends and family.  It makes enjoying a meal doubly pleasurable."

Artisan No-Knead Bread Recipe

Recipe by Lynn Isaacson, New Prospect Pottery

3 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 cup cornmeal (course ground cornmeal is preferred by some)
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons molasses
2 cups water

Instructions:

1.Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt) in the large bowl and stir with spoon for about 15 seconds. Pour molasses on top. Add water to the bowl and stir for about 1 or 2 minutes (it won’t look that good but that doesn’t matter). Cover the top of the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.

2. Let sit on counter top for about 12 to 16 hours (I usually do this for about 13 hours), the dough will look all bubbly on the top when done rising.

3. Generously sprinkle cornmeal or flour the top of your clean counter top or a cutting board (don’t worry about using too much, it won’t hurt it).

4. Slowly pour the dough from the bowl on to the floured surface, using the silicone spatula to help it peal off the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle a little cornmeal or flour on top of the dough and rub your hands together with flour. With you hands, gently stretch the dough out to a rectangle shape.

Covered Bakeware Instructions:

1. Fold the left side half way over and then fold the right side over it.

2. Fold the top to the bottom.

3. lightly grease a 3 quart (or larger) bowl and sprinkle flour in it to lightly cover the sides and bottom of bowl.

4. Place the dough into the lightly greased and floured bowl.

5. Let dough rise till it is almost doubled in size (about 1 to 1.5 hours).

6. Place empty bakeware in oven and turn oven to 450 degrees, to pre-heat bakeware for 15 minutes.

7. Open oven, remove bakeware lid, pour dough from the bowl into bakeware, replace lid, and close oven.

8.Let bread bake for 30 minutes, then open oven and remove bakeware lid and close oven.

9. Let bread bake for another 15 minutes without the bakeware lid.

Remove from oven, dump bread out on a cooling rack or your counter top and allow it to cool. Enjoy!

Here is Lynn's beautiful stoneware bean pot or casserole. "It has been wood fired and salt glazed. There was no glaze placed on the exterior of the clay. A heavy amount of salt was introduced into the wood fired kiln when it reached 2350 degrees. The salt vapor created the beautiful 'orange peel' texture. The interior of the pot was lined in a food safe gold shino glaze. This casserole must be placed in a cool oven to avoid thermal shock. It is dishwasher and microwave safe. It is a functional and beautiful way to cook and serve in the same vessel."


Lynn's website is full of her beautiful pottery.  She sells her work from her etsy shop as well as the Byrdcliffe Shop in Woodstock, New York.  She has just purchased a new kiln for reduction firing... can't wait to see what comes out of the fire!

Distribution Starts Today - Food & Pottery Celebrates a New Season

favorite glaze combination

The 2011 season starts today at Powisset Farm where I join 300 members to support community agriculture, also referred to as a CSA. I connected recently with the farmers when I sold my work at the Powisset Farm Festival in May. I learned that they have expanded their venue to include two farm stands per week, one at Powessit and one at Rocky Woods. Area residents can now reap the benefits of the local food movement without becoming members.  

In anticipation of today's distribution, I've been creating bowls - big and small that will work with all sorts of recipes. White stoneware, colorful glaze combinations and under glaze paints are my ingredients as I forge ahead into a new season of food and pottery connections.  

small bowls right off the wheel

arugula

Yesterday, I received an email with pictures of what might be at the distribution this week.  I noticed arugula (something I had never eaten before joining a CSA) on the list.  This vegetable is bitter and delicious and something even my kids will devour!  

I stopped at the market last night to pick up a few staples so I could make this recipe tonight.  Served in a big open salad bowl, there 

won't be any leftovers...

Arugula Salad

Bunch of Arugula - washed and dried

Dried Cranberries

Crumbled Feta cheese 

Pistachio Nuts

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Toss together...yum!

Later in the week, I'll be cooking with other veggies from this week's distribution like, lettuces, bok choi and radishes.  I'll refer to Powessit Food Blog for more ways to cook with this local fare.

Bowls, Bowls, Bowls...

Buck Run Pottery

grapevine bowl

Buck Run Pottery is Functional and Decorative pottery produced collaboratively by Don and Lee Jackson in southwestern Arkansas. The Jacksons create a full range of functional items from stoneware clay and fire using the oxidation method. 

All items are glazed with food safe formulas and fired so as to produce a durable item safe for every day use in microwave, dishwasher and oven.

asparagus served in a handmade tray

I connected with Lee through the etsy mud team and learned that she has a serious connection between her food and pottery.  I learned that the Jacksons are a rural family that raise as much of their own food as possible. They have a dairy goat herd of 24, a barn full of rabbits, gardens and an orchard, plus their pottery business.  

"We do functional ware and grow most of our own food so the two are intertwined at all times."  

Supper in One Pot baking dish

At the end of a busy day, they are often out of energy for food prep. They use their Supper In One Pot baking dish to solve this dilemma. This 16 inch wide dish with domed lid will hold a whole chicken or rabbit plus veggies and rice or noodles. 

Lee's Recipe:
"I pour long grain brown rice in the bottom using just enough to cover the bottom well and add enough water to cover the rice to a depth of one inch. You can then lay in onions and garlic and baby carrots or whatever is ready for harvest and for this meal I then added a well herbed rib roast of goat on top so that the flavorful seasoned broth runs over the veggies and soaks into the rice for a savory easy meal. After tossing this in the oven for 90 mins you can just turn it off until ready to serve and it will be hot and tender quite some time later. This pot is effective for many one dish meals and has been the answer to our desire to eat well at the end of our always busy days."

 
Find out more about Buck Run Pottery by visiting their etsy shop and their facebook page

Memorial Day Weekend

Blue Fish

Memorial Day for my family marks the start of the summer season.  There are no sporting events planned; this weekend is strictly set aside for family fun.  We often travel to the beach to take long walks, collect sea glass and eat the first lobster of the season.  

Flounder

In honor of the Memorial Day weekend, I'm offering a few promotions in my etsy store.  One is 10% off each of my fish ornaments (great Father's Day gift!) while they last.... Each fish is a hand painted one-of-a-kind beauty; all swim in the Atlantic Ocean, around New England.


I've been looking into purchasing a share of Cape Ann Fresh Catch Community Supported Fishery.  A few friends have really enjoyed it.  Distribution starts June 6th in various nearby locations. 

Tautog

Fingers crossed for a fresh catch this weekend!
If we catch a blue fish... chowhound has some good recipes 

If we catch a flounder... Glouchester Fisherman's Wives recipes

If we catch a sea bass... epicurious has inventive and wonderful recipes

Sea Bass

For the weekend, I'll put the clay aside and focus on quality time with my family... 

Spring Farm Fest - May 21 - Making the Choice to Buy Local

A few years back, I picked up Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and yes, I did make my book club read it (thank you ladies!).  At the same time I became a shareholder at the Powisset Farm CSA.  Perhaps it was the reading and the eating that worked together, but something changed in the way I was making choices for my family and my work as an artist.

The thrill of walking out into a field to pick beans off a vine (green, yellow and even purple varieties) or lifting a leaf and finding tiny ruby colored strawberries (and “sampling”… who could resist?).  It was just so fresh! I started to dread those trips to the grocery store where I had to admit to myself that I didn’t know much about what I was buying.

With this sudden change in lifestyle, my work as a potter changed. I started to delve into what makes a piece of pottery functional, not just pretty. How what we eat and what we choose to serve that food in really do go hand in hand.  Why wouldn’t you choose a handmade, one of a kind bowl to eat the lovely fresh local tomatoes in?  It’s a wonderful experience! One just needs to make the choice to do so.

This Saturday, May 21st, Powisset Farm, located at 37 Powisset Road in Dover, will host their Spring Farm Fest from 1-5pm.  Vendors will include wonderful local businesses and organizations that support sustainability, local agriculture, buying local and building community.  There will be local farmers, gardeners, potters and many community groups and non-profit organizations.  There will be farm tours, guided ecological walks, and live music.  This Fest marks the start of the new season.  If you haven’t been to Powisset before, bring your whole family and be prepared to fall in love….

Lisa WB Walker pottery will be for sale at the Powisset Farm Spring Fest.  She supports sustainability, local agriculture, buying local and building community.

Clay Lick Creek Pottery

Welcome to the whimsical world of Clay Lick Creek Pottery, named after the creek that flows across the land where potter, Karen Fiorino lives and works in the heart of the Shawnee Forest in Southern Illinois. 


Karen uses a traditional red earthenware clay and then glazes the work in a creamy white maiolica glaze on which she decorates with cheery and bright designs. She believes people should have beautiful objects in their homes and use them in their everyday life.


I asked her about the relationship between the food and her pottery, she shared this with me: "My husband came home with some beautiful local strawberries (the season is just starting in Southern Illinois, we have strawberry fields within 5 miles of us) and 1/2 pint of whipping cream. So, I knew what bowl I would use with the berries, my blueberry designed colander. The blue and white of the bowl makes a wonderful contrast with the red of the berries. Of course, you could put blueberries in it as well, but those berries are not ready yet around here."


Here's the recipe for the ultra luscious whipped cream to eat with the berries:
In a chilled bowl, place 1/2 pint of heavy cream, pinch of salt, 1Tablespoon of vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar....beat until stiff!  yummy!  

Check out Clay Lick Creek Pottery on facebook, etsy and on the web 

Beautiful functional bowls by ClayLickCreekPottery

Finger lickin' good!

Yesterday I picked up 3 months of glorious meat from Austin's Farms, a farm to table resource for fresh meat.  They distribute at the soon to be open Powessit Farms, a thriving CSA with a fantastic farmers market.  With the sun showing itself, I'm dreaming of colors and tastes that the summer months bring...slowing down and taking stock of what is around us.

What's right in front of me is kids wanting food that tastes good and sweet! So I tried something new with stuff already in my pantry. (Just so you know, you'll be tempted to lick your fingers at the end...)

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins - makes 12
Food Magazine

batter:
1 1/4 sticks butter
3 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/3 cup buttermilk
15 oz can of pumpkin
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs

coating:
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 stick butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Butter and flour muffin tin (don't use liners).
2. Make batter by combining all dry ingredients. Set aside. Combine buttermilk and pumpkin.  Set aside.  Mix butter and sugar, add eggs, then alternate between flour and pumpkin til combined.
3. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack.
4. Mix up sugar and cinnamon and have butter ready.  After 10 minutes of cooling time, remove muffins one at a time, brush with butter and toss into the sugar mix to coat.  Repeat til all are done.
5. Let muffins cool on rack.  Enjoy!

Mindful Bowl for mixing...